As policymakers and financial services players in the international community continue to debate new corporate governance rules, the layman is still flummoxed by what happened in the global financial crisis, not least because much of the precipitous activity was legal. The definition of integrity needs to be clarified before regulators can begin rewriting the rules, says Justin O'Brien, director of the Centre for Law, Markets and Regulation at the University of New South Wales. Most regulatory systems are designed as a reaction to past failure and are incapable of dealing with new crises.